


Need Life to Live

by Gorned



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Future Fic, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-02-28 16:37:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13275528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gorned/pseuds/Gorned
Summary: Written for FlareWarrior for Kingsman Stocking Stuffer. The prompt was for Eggsy to be a roboticist and to build Harry. But Harry is built too well and takes a life of his own.





	1. Alive

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FlareWarrior](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlareWarrior/gifts).



“—And if I ever see ‘round this shop again, Muggsy, I’ll skin you!”

The voice fades as Eggsy turns his back to quickly pick his path along a raised wall, snickering to himself. He’s poor and he doesn’t have the units to pay for parts, so he likes to go digging through the rubbish of upgrade shops or breezing in and out, pocketing a few things as he does. One of his favorites to pinch from is actually owned by his mum’s boyfriend. Dean used to just gift him parts when he and mum had first started seeing each other, but once they’d gotten married everything had gone tits up, Dean started showing his true colors and Eggsy found himself far more immersed in his projects than he’d ever been before.

Eggsy flips up the hood of his jacket and carefully jump from ledge to ledge, roofs to balconies, and finally swings around a light pole to set his feet back on the ground, a gentle pulse spreading through his legs as his modded trainers give a bit of cushioning to ease his landing. He wipes his palms on his jeans and puts his head down, wishing the rain would just ease. He doesn’t want moisture to leak through his backpack again and ruin the parts he’s just nicked.

London’s dark and cold. Nothing unusual but Eggsy still hates it. The world’s a terrible place, as far as he knows. It’s mostly made of slums now. Apartment buildings that stack way too high, trash in the streets that nobody has cleaned up for decades. The only thing about this dreary existence that shines is the tech. Humankind had never made strides in caring for itself, but it had excelled in trying to pretend that tech made it all better. Tech was a bandaid. Tech was a salve. The only thing that tech had never been was a cure. Humans were harsh and bitter by nature and no matter how much they tried to improve their lives, it never worked.

So they turned not to their fellow man, but to tech. Robots. Automatons. Androids. Body Mods. Why see the world crumbling around you with natural eyes when you could get them upgraded and see whatever you wanted?

Eggsy was like everyone else in this aspect. He didn’t have any mods himself, but he was always trying to make a better man. He was a lost cause in his own eyes. He was a kid from the estates and he’d always be one; fatherless, poor, directionless. He’d tried enlisting but that had only lasted so long. Mum had begged him to come back on account of her pregnancy. He knew he couldn’t leave her alone with Dean, so he’d come back only to immerse himself in his projects.

Tech was easy for Eggsy. Tech had rules and structure, had laws that needed to be followed to even exist. He’d been a Tinkerer since he’d been able to understand it all, under the guidance of his father before he’d died. Tinkerers were untrained, unschooled. They used back alley mods, black market programs. Once Lee had bit the bullet, Eggsy’s future in Engineering had slid through his hands like dust. He’d dreamed of working for a tech giant like Statesmen one day but without the money for his education, he’d never get hired. So, Eggsy did what he could on his own. 

He turns down an alley lit by the flickering neon-colored lights advertising an Indian restaurant and waves through the window at the older lady that owned the place. She was a godsend, Garima was. All Eggsy had to do was bus tables for her on the weekends and mind her tech and he got to live in the apartment above the restaurant. Not a bad trade off, honestly, because she always made sure he was fed, as well. Helped that he’d designed her security system as well. No more broken windows, no more thugs. Yes, his apartment constantly smelled like spices but there were worse things to have your living space smell like.

Eggsy unlocks the door next to the restaurant and clomps up the stairs to his apartment.

“Hello, I’m home!” Eggsy switches on the lights. They buzz and flicker before coming to life, illuminating his modest place. Tech is piled neatly everywhere, loved and thought of but maybe not finished. All of Eggsy’s things were second hand, worn and dull but still good enough to use from his couch, to his bed, to his crooked stovetop. The only thing that looked even a bit modern was the Aut leaning against the wall in his ‘workspace.’

“Hello, Harry.” Eggsy greets fondly, setting his backpack down on his work bench and starting to rifle through it. “I’ve been ‘round Dean’s again to get you some things. Almost but caught, but you know me. Always find a way out, don’t I? That’s right, love. Anyway, they’re brand new and should actually work for you this go around.” Using his foot, he hooked his hovering stool and took a seat as he opened up a panel in Harry’s abdomen to get to work.

Harry is Eggsy’s greatest undertaking. He was the skeleton of a Kingsman Aut that had somehow not been properly disposed of. Eggsy had found his bare bones dumpster diving in the more posh part of town and knew immediately that he had to fix him up. It had been almost a year and a half but now, he’s finally got it all right. He’s painstakingly found all of the parts he’d needed, wrote the programs, singed his fingers installing the tiniest bits and pieces and now he got to see the fruits of his labor. Harry was finally going to open his eyes.

After nearly an hour, Eggsy stands up and bites on his lower lip. He wipes his grease-stained hand on his jeans and reaches up to thumb over Harry’s cheek. To print out all of his synthetic skin had been the worst (the apartment had smelled of burnt plastic for days), but it was soft to the touch and so realistic. Harry looked realistic. Eggsy had worked so hard to fabricate Harry’s looks, going for something that Kingsman might have come out with. He looked a little older but Eggsy didn’t mind. When coming up with Harry’s looks, Eggsy had let the ideas just flow without really stopping to think about them and honestly, Harry was gorgeous. He looked regal in Eggsy’s opinion. Royal. He stood tall with long legs and broad shoulders.

Trailing his hand through the synthetic strands of hair, Eggsy circles the small indentation that would fire up Harry’s systems with his fingertip. This was it. He was finally going to meet the Aut he had spent so much time pouring love and time into. Eggsy presses the soft spot and held the button for five seconds before releasing and taking a step back, holding his breath.

Blue lights pulse through Harry’s body in trails, moving like blood through veins. There’s a soft whirring sound in Harry’s chest before it silences to nearly nothing. His fingertips twitch, the corners of his mouth turned down into an exaggerated frown. His eyes flicker open, a light behind his irises glowing brightly through the chocolate brown color before settling into something warm.

Harry pushes off the wall he’s been leaning against and immediately reaches up to smooth his palms over the tie and coat Eggsy had dressed him in. He looks around Eggsy’s apartment slowly, as if cataloging every detail. Finally, finally, his gaze lands on Eggsy.

“Oh, hello.” Harry’s voice is pleasant and light despite the heaviness of a quizzical brow. “I must confess that I’m not sure where I am.”

“You’re home.” Eggsy says, fiddling with his own hands. He can’t stop smiling. “I’m Eggsy. I… Made you.”

“Ah. I see.” Harry says. He takes a step away from the wall, his polished shoes making a gentle clicking noise on the floor. He turns in a slow circle to look around a bit more, then looks to Eggsy again.

“I am an Artificial Intelligence, I take it? An android? I can sense that something about myself is not quite... Organic.” Harry asks. “And you are my maker, Eggsy. Interesting. Have I been activated before? I cannot recall if I have.”

Eggsy shakes his head. “Nah, this is your first time. I didn’t want to botch it, y’know? It’s hard to get hold of the right cards for your neural networks… So this, yeah. Your first day. How’s it?”

“It’s… A bit much.” Harry tilts his head ever so slightly at Eggsy and gives the smallest of smiles. He carefully makes a path to the window above the kitchen sink and moves aside the curtains to take a peek outside at the rain. Every single move he takes is graceful and purposeful. Eggsy’s so proud that he could burst. He trails after Harry and leans against the kitchen counters, crossing his arms over his chest.

“So, bruv.” Eggsy says, “Your first day alive. Your birthday. Is there a way you wanna celebrate?”

Harry’s quiet as he thinks about his answer. His eyes follow the trails of raindrops as they hit the window, looks out into the alley that they live over. He presses his hand against the cool glass for just a moment, then turns to Eggsy and gives a grin that could only be described as dark. Eggsy’s smile fades as he takes in the mischievousness that’s snuck into Harry’s fine features.

“I’d like to start a bar fight, I think. Shall we, my dear?” He strides out of the kitchen and to the stairs, grabbing up a black umbrella from a coat hook as he goes, disappearing out of view as he heads for the door.

“Harry, no!” Eggsy yelps, quickly trying to follow after. He doesn’t recall writing that kind of personality into Harry’s programming and now it’s too late to take it back. He kicks the door shut behind him as he follows Harry out of the alley and to the street. He watches as Harry looks up at the dark, grey sky, the fat, wet droplets of rain plopping into his carefully styled hair and sinking into the charcoal fabric of his suit. He smiles wide and opens the umbrella, casting a glance back at Eggsy.

They lock gazes. Eggsy can feel his heart pumping in his throat.

“Come now.” Harry says. He reaches out his hand for Eggsy, palm up.

Eggsy swallows hard and closes the distance, reaching out to take Harry’s hand. His hand is cold but solid as his fingers close over Eggsy’s. He pulls Eggsy close to get him under the umbrella and looks down at him, still smiling softly. God, he feels so real. He’d not meant for things to turn like this, for Harry to be like this. Well, not exactly. There was a definite gentlemanly feeling to Harry, but this roguish behavior is something Eggsy had not expected at all, especially not so soon.

“It’s time to live, darling.” Harry says gently, settling his hand on the small of Eggsy’s back. “For both of us.”


	2. Broken Laws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apparently Eggsy's written Harry to be a trouble-seeking git.

“Jesus, Harry,” Eggsy says, breathless.

The pub is in disarray. Broken glass litters the floor. Splatters of blood are striping the dull wood of the bar. It’s quiet save for a few groans from the men who Harry has rendered unconscious, some snuffled on account of broken noses. Somebody’s breathing wetly because Harry has broken a good many of his teeth.

Eggsy’s sat like a lump in their booth, scared as balls, and not sure what he’s supposed to do about this. He’s somehow built an android who can ignore The Three Laws. He remembers, very distinctly, writing that piece of code into Harry’s software. He didn’t want to be killed by his own creation, no sir. But Harry not only started a fight all on his own, but was so vicious in the fighting that he also finished it with nary a synthetic hair out of place.

Harry looks into a piece of broken mirror and adjusts his tie so that the dimple of it sits just so.

“We’d better leave,” He says. It’s like he’s remarking on the weather or the promptness of the train. “Come along, Eggsy.”

Eggsy looks at the half-finished pint in front of him. The alluring amber color of it isn’t so appealing to him anymore. He wrinkles his nose and gets up from the booth, gingerly picking his way across the room to join Harry at the door. He takes one last glance back at the chaos. The bartender is draping over the bar, the cordless phone dropped from his hand to the floor. There’s a wooden barstool completely smashed and laying partially on a poor victim of Harry’s whims, and a knife sticking comically out of the back of another. Rottie, who Eggsy actually knows at one of Dean’s goons, has a nasty welt across his face from being pistol-whipped. The offending weapon itself has actually been squished between Harry’s robotically strong fingers and rendered useless, wedged under a booth against the wall.

He turns his eyes back to Harry and somehow doesn’t feel scared. Harry could hurt him just as badly as these poor sods but there’s something deep in his gut that says he won’t.

Harry opens the door and holds it for Eggsy to go through first, following after and opening up his umbrella to stave off the rain.

“Not as fun as I thought it would be, but at least I know exactly what I’m capable of,” Harry says, setting his large hand on the small of Eggsy’s back and ushering him to start walking. Eggsy goes with the push, surprised at how gentle the touch is.

“You pulled that shit just to see what you could do?” Eggsy asks, incredulous. “Harry! You’ve hurt people. They- They could be, like, deformed for the rest of their lives of somethin’! They-“

“-Were a bunch of bullies who had it coming,” Harry interrupts smoothly. His tone makes Eggsy feel like he’s not followed along with a school teacher’s lesson. “Why not hurt them? They’ve hurt others. I know for absolutely fact that one has hurt you in the past. They’ve now served the greater purpose of teaching me my strengths and abilities while atoning for previous actions and injustices.”

Eggsy pinches the bridge of his nose and clenches his jaw. Fucking android. Kingsman models were supposed to be nothing but embellished Auts. They were supposed to look pretty and function as butlers or house keepers. They were the stylish wristwatches for the rich; fancy, functional embellishments. Actual androids were kept for greater purposes like search and rescue, riot control, or small jobs like reception work. They weren’t supposed to be so human-looking in design as to distinguish what they were by sight alone to the regular people and they definitely were not supposed to have smart-ass personalities. They weren’t supposed to have personalities at all.

Maybe that was why Harry’s skeleton had been in the dump. Maybe the bare bones of him had been tampered with. Kingsman was renowned for their Automatons based on the fact that they were among the first to have engineered them that were still around and that their Auts were so life-like. The trade off was that they weren’t connected to the International Neural Network and thus couldn’t gather and use information. While Kingsman models were the most life-like looking and feeling on the market, they weren’t supposed to go past the repetitive functions set for them.

Harry definitely had the logo and serials for Kingsman etched into the metal of his bones but he did not have the same emptiness of Kingsman Auts.

Eggsy says nothing as they walk in the rain, headed back for the apartment. The lights in the restaurant are off now, the windows shuttered. Eggsy leaves the safety of Harry’s umbrella to take the stairs three at a time, savoring the extra air that his modded trainers give him. He unlocks the door and makes it a point to hold it for Harry, glaring as he takes his time to furl the umbrella back up, shaking off the excess water and wiping his wet feet on the landing before heading inside. Eggsy rolls his eyes and goes in after him, shutting and locking the door. He punches in the code to put the security systems into place.

“Excuse me, Eggsy,” Harry says, “Your shoes- How do they do that? That is to ask, how do they provide you that push to give you lift?”

“Seriously?” Eggsy turns to frown at Harry, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m still fuckin’ lost at how you’ve ignored The Laws and you’re just gonna try and make small talk about my trainers?”

The expression on Harry’s face is guileless. His eyes are clear and focused on Eggsy, ticking back and forth as if downloading and processing information as he watches the minute shifts of Eggsy’s eyebrows and mouth.

“I’m curious as to how they work. There’s nothing on the market like them that I can find on the Network. If you’ve made them yourself, which I highly suspect you have, I’d like to request Oxfords in the same style. Black leather, if you would. Please.” He gives a polite little close-lipped smile and Eggsy narrows his eyes at how pleased Harry looks with himself.

“First of fucking all, you don’t need modded shoes. You don’t need modded anything, Mr. I-Can-Punch-Through-Solid-Steel! Second of all, you think you’re so bloody gentlemanly, Haz, but you’ve gone and completely ignored the fact that you haven’t told me how you bypassed the Laws. That ain’t very fucking polite, mate,” Eggsy says, pointing at Harry with a slightly burned at the tip, accusing finger.

“Forgive me, but you never asked me that at all,” Harry replies serenely. “You mentioned the Laws but didn’t ask me how I bypass them.”

There’s a beat of silence. They stare one another down.

“So?" Eggsy snips, "How do you bypass the Laws, smart-ass?” 

“I am able to bypass them because I firmly believe that they do not apply to me,” Harry sniffs. “I do not identify as a ‘robot’ and therefore, those Laws do not stop me from exercising my own will and wants. I am more than a mere android. I am above that label.”

Eggsy groans and drops his face into his hands, “Are you fucking kidding me? You can ignore the Laws because you honestly believe that you’re not a robot? Honestly? You’re just the ghost of some posh wanker in a super-powered shell then, are you? Pull the shitting other one.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Harry frowns. “I’m not human and have never been human, but I am certainly not a run of the mill robot. Surely you see this. You made me with your own two hands.”

Eggsy paces back and forth for just a moment, then turns and throws himself onto the couch. The couch squeaks and groans in protest as Eggsy turns onto his belly, throwing his snap-back across the room.

How could he have fucked up so royally? If anyone were to find out about Harry, if anyone were to see that he was a human-looking android who could bypass the Laws, they’d throw Eggsy into Iso and he’d never see the outside world again. He can say goodbye to his mum and baby sister. What he’s done is beyond illegal. They’d probably label him as a terrorist or something because of what Harry is. All he’d wanted was an Aut to liven up the apartment a little so maybe he wouldn’t be so lonely, and what he’d gotten was a sarcastic… Not-Robot. He’d have to go back through and comb through Harry’s code. Every single line he’d painstakingly written was going to have to be scrutinized so Eggsy could figure out how he’d given Harry such a personality of his own. He squeezes his eyes shut, imagining the glow of his screen searing his retinas already.

He feels the couch dip with a new weight and peeks past his arm. Harry’s sitting gingerly next to him, watching. Assessing.

“Are you going to deactivate me, Eggsy?” Harry asks. His voice is quiet and soft. In his tone, Eggsy can hear the sad resignation but also an underlying trust. He’s not being hostile about his drawn conclusion. He can see that ending his existence might be the best course of option. He’ll give his new life without a fight because that’s what Eggsy might think is best.

Eggsy can’t look Harry in the eyes, so he looks at the large hands resting on his knees instead. Harry’s making himself seem so small right now and it’s such a contrast to the fighter he’d been earlier at the pub. His mood is capable of shifting just as easily as Eggsy’s own. Harry might be right in thinking that he’s more advanced than the androids out there. Those same hands that caused such mayhem are also incredibly gentle.

“No. I won’t deactivate you. Not yet at least, so you’d better be on your best behavior from here on out. Got it?” Eggsy grumbles.

“My sincerest thanks,” Harry breathes out. Very carefully, he reaches over and trails his fingertips through the hair by Eggsy’s temple. He follows the curve of Eggsy’s hairline and ghosts his touch along the shell of his ear before pulling his hand away. He tries to smile but it looks like he doesn't quite know how to give a full one yet so the toothy grin is very wobbly.

“I need to go to bed,” Eggsy says suddenly. Harry stands so he can get off the couch and steps aside. Eggsy clears his throat and ignores the splotchy warmth creeping into his face. “Don’t go out of this apartment and don’t do anything reckless while you’re in here, alright? We’ll figure stuff out in the morning. Night, Haz.”

Harry inclines his head in acknowledgment, his movements far more graceful than anything Eggsy has ever managed in his entire life. Eggsy scowls again and turns for his room. When he gets to the door, he stops and glances back at Harry. He hasn’t moved at all, just standing in the middle of the living room right where Eggsy left him. He looks at Eggsy with guarded eyes that glow faintly in the dim. He doesn’t blink.

Eggsy heads into his room and shuts the door, not expecting sleep to come easy tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seeing this on a fic rec out of the blue really revved my engine and motivated me to finish this chapter. It was very nice. Thank you @thisbirdhadflown!

**Author's Note:**

> I love robots. I love Hartwin. I love FlareWarrior's fics. This was a great prompt. I do plan on writing more to this wherein Harry is a little shit of a robot and Eggsy get to figure out how to deal with it. I also want to include a few more characters and establish them in this world as well.


End file.
